The Basics: In a small town in Maine, a freak storm is followed by a thick white mist. And there's stuff in the mist. Lots of stuff. Stuff so cool and so freaky that I almost wish I didn't have to write a review where I give away even one second of it. I just want to say, "Go see this awesome movie!" and make you believe me. Could you do that just once? Anyway, people get trapped in a supermarket and turn on each other while trying to figure out if fight or flight is the most viable option.

What's the Deal? Here's what it's not: It's not anywhere near as lame as the poster that I've seen up in theater lobbies, the one that made me groan each time I passed by it. It's also nothing like either version of The Fog, the movie where the fog rolled in and then ghosts knocked on your door a lot. And to anyone that I ever said, "Oh dang, not The Fog, Part 3!" to, I apologize. This one is suspenseful, funny and political, and it has a deep sense of pessimism and irony that warms my monster-loving heart.

Political? It's been said by others  and I believe it  that all movies are political, especially the ones that say they're not. This horror takes place in Maine, which isn't just home to the story's author, Stephen King, but it also features the main non-Texas compound of a certain political family dynasty, and its creeping subtext is that all the bad stuff going on is military-based, an experiment in colonialism gone wrong. Meanwhile, loudmouthed religious nuts capitalize on the population's fear.

Who Deserves to Be a Household Name After This Movie: Sternhagen. I know, you have no idea who she is unless you're a Broadway hound or a member of her immediate family. But she's a character actress who's been around for 77 years. She's been in a million things  she was Kyle McLachlan's uptight WASP mother on Sex and the City, and she plays the coolest, grumpiest, smartest person in this movie. She actually made people in the press screening cheer, and now I wish she was my grandmother.

I Promise This Is Not a Spoiler, But It's got one of the coolest endings of the year.

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